Wednesday, June 2, 2010

A Few Random Thoughts

Here's a little audio clip from a local radio program that I was on last week to promote the presentation that I gave last Friday: http://www.ktoo.org/audiofile.cfm?clip=4651 The segment that I am on begins at about 13:20. Nothing too exciting in this clip but I know at least my Mom will like to listen to it.

Got out for another pretty long run today. I've done my highest mileage week right now in over a year: 115 miles - even with a day off on Monday. I'll cut back a bit in the next week and then a good long 30+ miler next weekend before a nice two week taper for Western States. I'll be heading down to California on the 17th and spend 8 days before the race getting used to the elevation, the sun, and the heat. I really like the way my body has been feeling with the increased mileage that I've done the past week. I don't feel fast right now but I feel as strong as I ever have. And the longer I go the stronger I feel. A good spot to be a few weeks before a 100 miler.

I was thinking a bit during my run today about my training leading up to this race compared to one of my main competitors on June 26th, Tony Krupicka. Here's run almost twice as much mileage for the year as I have; His most recent week was almost 200 miles; and in the month of May, which he called his "worst" month of running in '10, he ran about 200 miles more than I did. It's amazing to me sometimes to see how different two paths can be to come together at the same place. My approach has clearly worked for me and his approach has clearly worked for him (if I'm not mistaken I don't think he has ever been beaten in an ultra that he finished!). In many ways that seems to be the end of the similarity between our styles of training, and yet we've both been able to find large amounts of success. Just an interesting thought. Nothing more to say about that now.

Clearly high mileage has its positives and negatives. Tony never loses, but he has missed significant portions of the last few ultra seasons due to injury. To his credit, he has tried to train smarter, but it will always be a problem for him simply because he seems (from reading his blog posts) to have a spiritual need to get into the mountains for high-volume. I think you have this as well, but perhaps your added years have given you added wisdom regarding your breaking point. I think Tony's youth plays a big part in the equation--at his age he may get the necessary confidence he needs at races by training more than anyone else has. As Karl Meltzer has said on his site, when Tony finds the golden mean of training, everyone will be in a lot of trouble. But who really knows anyhow? Everyone is indeed an experiment of one. Looking forward to seeing how the snow will affect the front runners at WS! Alaksa advantage?

And I run alot less volume than you. :-) Mental Power will win Western, not the fastest guy...my two cents. It's gonna be so fun to watch, I wish I could be there, running about 10th place, hearing the news from the front is always entertaining. :-)

Geoff: I wish you all the best at Western. You are an amazing talent, especially in the mountains, and will obviously be in the hunt. As far as Tony K., his mileage doesn't make sense even to those of us who are running in the 90-120 mpw range. He's a super-talented guy who also has the time to do mega miles. (Like many, I have a wife and toddler and a demanding FT job and time ain't plentiful, bro.) I've found that when I go over 110 I'm flirting with diminishing returns. I don't get how Tony can run 150-200+ a week and do what he does--incredible. All of that said, you, Hal, and a few others will certainly be tough to beat! Western is gonna be epic. Good luck! - Wyatt Hornsby, Denver, Colorado

Yeah the high vs low mileage thing is interesting. Tony pays the price with more injuries, but he is also happy and inspired by high mileage. To Waynes point regarding Tony's ample time, he is a full time grad student and still packs in the miles and quality writing. Thus is a function of motivation and efficient time management.. and less sleep. Anita Ortiz has 4 kids and won WS last year by getting at 4am to run.